Our Righteousness in Jesus Christ..Craig Denison Ministries;

 Our Righteousness in Jesus Christ

Craig Denison Ministries;

Weekly Overview:

Living an unveiled lifestyle is the way in which we experience the fullness of what’s available to us in our restored relationship with God. It’s a powerful lifestyle of faith, direct encounters with our heavenly Father, and life transformation. It’s when we live our lives in light of the perfect sacrifice of Jesus that we begin to experience all his death was purposed to bring us. God longs for his children to walk in intimacy with him directly connected to his wellspring of love for us. May you experience a more tangible, loving, and powerful connection with your heavenly Father this week.

Scripture:“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” - >2 Corinthians 5:21

Devotional:

2 Corinthians 5:14-21 describes one of the most powerful outcomes of Jesus’ sacrifice for us on the cross. Scripture says,

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Jesus’ death on the cross defeated the power of sin and darkness and set us free to walk in the glorious light of righteousness. You and I have been transformed by the power of Jesus’ death. He took every sin we would ever commit and bore the entirety of their penalty. Through the death of Jesus, you and I are now free to live as new creations formed in the righteous and holy image of our heavenly Father.

When God tore the veil, he demonstrated that our sin and depravity couldn’t hold back his presence any longer. Thousands of years of pent-up longing for restored relationship burst forth proclaiming the newfound nature of God’s people who would choose to accept and follow Jesus.

There is no more important way to end this week of pursuing a greater connection to our heavenly Father than accepting our new standing before God. Even though Jesus defeated the power of sin in our lives, our great enemy continues to tempt us, lie to us, and steal from us the abundant life God intends. He continues to try to rob God of what he so fully deserves: unencumbered relationship with his children.

Satan lies to us and tells us that sin still causes God to withhold himself from us. We allow condemnation that is not of God to creep in and cause us to believe that our heavenly Father doesn’t want to be with us. But the truth is, God always wants to be with his children. God runs out to us, calls us his beloved, wraps us with honor and his righteousness, and leads us into his glorious embrace.

Take time and renew your mind to your righteousness in Jesus. Ask the Spirit for fresh revelation of your freedom from sin and allow your longings to be satisfied in God rather than the world today.

Guided Prayer:

1. Meditate on your new nature given to you in Christ. Receive a new perspective for yourself and your relationship with God.

“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” - >2 Corinthians 5:21

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” - >2 Corinthians 5:17

2. Confess any sin or lie that has been keeping you from walking in the fullness of what’s available to you with your heavenly Father.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” >1 John 1:9

3. Spend time taking your longings before God and asking him to satisfy them. What desire is burning within you? Do you long for intimacy, purpose, or friendship? Do you long to make an impact or to be enjoyed? Come before God and spend time allowing him to love you, fill you, empower you, and satisfy you.

Praise God that he is a loving Father who loves to be with and satisfy the needs of his children! God longs for us to bring to him all our problems, insecurities, sin, and shame so he can cover them to overflowing with his merciful love. May you find rest, satisfaction, and healing in the arms of your heavenly Father today.

Extended Reading: 2 Corinthians 5

The Reason We Serve..Dr. Charles Stanley

 The Reason We Serve

Dr. Charles Stanley

Colossians 3:23-24

In His Word, God commands us to serve one another. However, there will inevitably be difficult people in life who make this mandate challenging.

Thankfully, a biblical definition of service can help us obey the Lord's instruction, no matter who the recipient may be. And the reason is that God is actually the One whom we serve.

When we have this motivation underlying everything we do, it will impact the quality of our work and keep us from becoming discouraged. Then, whatever our task--whether we lead a country, teach children, or do something that seems unattractive--if our goal is to glorify God, we will do our best in His strength. And we trust Him to use us for His purposes, even if our labor should appear fruitless to us or to others.

When I was a child, I had to wake up before daylight to deliver newspapers. Even in rain or snow, I still had to complete the job. This was hard for me to do. Then the Lord impressed upon my heart that I was not merely bringing papers to people in my town; I was serving Jesus. As I understood this truth more, waking up and working was purposeful and doable. Truthfully, I still did not always feel like facing the work, but feelings were no longer relevant. I was serving my Maker.

Whomever God calls us to serve, and whatever He tells us to do, we can obey with joyful hearts when it's done for Jesus. If this is our motivation, we won't need worldly approval or evidence of impact. We need to know only that God is pleased and promises to reward those who serve Him (Heb. 11:6).

Interrupting the Cycle of Negative Thinking..Ashley Moore

 Interrupting the Cycle of Negative Thinking

By Ashley Moore

“And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” - Philippians 4:8, NLT

Dr. Daniel Amen calls negative thoughts A.N.T.S., shorthand for automatic negative thoughts. Just as we would take action to remove actual ants in our space, we should intentionally remove negative thoughts from our head space. But why is it important to break the cycle of negative thinking in the first place? And how do we get rid of negative thoughts?

Why the Cycle Must Stop
Negative thought patterns steal our joy, feed us lies, and keep us from rightly worshiping God. Have you ever noticed that it is much easier to notice what is wrong in the world? We can’t help but see how our spouse loads the dishwasher imperfectly. We hate how that person in front of us pushes the brakes before moving into the turn lane. It irks us that we don't quite compare with the other moms at school. All day we are bombarded with thoughts, and if gone unchecked, we can become anxious and discontent. 

Negative thinking turns into anxiety, creating a compound effect and making us feel more defeated. We find it difficult to make room for spending time in God’s presence, and we definitely don’t feel there's anything worth praising God about. We may also find ourselves isolated as a way to avoid people and not get sucked into comparison. But being alone and complaining only furthers our misery and robs our joy. 

How to Get Rid of Negative Thoughts
God never wanted us to exist like this. He doesn't desire that his children are hyper-focused on all that is broken in the world. He knows we enjoy life and our relationships more fully when we praise Him. So how do we stop the pesky cycle and finally eliminate the A.N.T.S.? 

Here's the truth: we won't be able to rid ourselves of all toxic thoughts completely. But we can practice breaking the cycle! Imagine putting a giant barrier in the middle of a stream of ants to reroute them back outside where they belong! We do this by following Paul’s command in Philippians 4:8. Instead of ruminating on all the ways life isn’t measuring up to our standard of perfection, we think about true, honorable, lovely, pure, and admirable things. We dwell on things that are excellent and worthy of our praise.

This verse can serve as a litmus test when you notice a negative thought. You can ask, is this true? Is this worthy of my time and attention? Is this excellent or honorable? Or this scripture can serve as a prayer. Ask God to help you notice what is true, honorable, pure, and lovely in the world. And as you notice those things that are excellent and worthy of praise, practice thanking God for those things. You will find your joy in His presence (Psalm 16:11). No one likes when ants get in the house, and neither should we tolerate A.N.T.S. in our minds. By understanding how negative thinking harms our souls and intercepting those with better thoughts, we can finally break the cycle of negative thinking. 

Intersecting Life and Faith:
Start a gratitude list. Write three to five things you are thankful for each day. These things can be big or small. Use this list to begin your prayers with gratitude and praise toward God. Spending time with God increases our joy! And as you think about what is good, you train your mind to notice more of what is good and lovely in your life. 

 

When We Are Slowed to a Stop..Meg Bucher

 When We Are Slowed to a Stop

By Meg Bucher

“I wanted to be sure I was not running and had not been running my race in vain.” - Galatians 2:2b NIV

The empty pages of my running journal smelled like a slice of heaven. I couldn’t wait to fill them with miles and routes, splits and workouts. But it wouldn’t be that way, not this time. This time, my twenty-year-old running injuries would catch up to me, resurfacing and lingering.

Today’s verse speaks of running, a hobby close to my heart, a very big part of who I am. It was only in learning to let it go that I realized I could survive without it. I’m learning, as I walk with Christ, that I can survive without anything but Him. In Greek (the language the New Testament is written in), “to run” is the word “trecho.”

According to Strong's Concordance, 'trecho' means to exert one’s self and strive hard. The word occurs in Greek writings to denote extreme peril, which requires the exertion of all one’s effort to overcome.

This kind of striving is the opposite of passivity. In Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary, trechō means “to run” in both a physical sense and a figurative sense. Trechō is used several times to picture the Christian life in the sense of running toward a goal (1 Cor. 9:26c; Gal 2:2; 5:7; Phil 2:16; Heb 12:1). Passivity is not a virtue in the Christian life. 

Passivity is taking all of the wisdom God’s given us throughout our trials, and suppressing it. Barreling on with one solution after the next …none of them working. While Jesus waves His hand in front of our faces to stop, passivity is thinking that we can fix everything without Him.

Walking with Christ is hard. We get knocked down, stripped of things that we identify with and felt once identified us. People leave our lives. Death is an everyday reality. And if we can’t find God in those situations, we have fallen victim to a passive attitude about who God is and what He promises.

He is good. And He knows what’s good for us. His plan for us is good. The way we identify ourselves is not always the same way He sees us. Being open to His version of who were made to be and what we are here to accomplish starts by believing in Jesus. Walking with Him doesn’t always make sense to us, but we can trust that we are being made holy, one stride at at time, until we break the tape in heaven.

Father, Praise You for our losses and our trials. Thank You for the things You strip from us that we think we need more than You. Forgive our flipped perspective of control, and bless us to lift it entirely up to You.

 In Jesus’ Name, 

Amen.

A Prayer to Refocus Your ThoughtsJessica Van Roekel

 A Prayer to Refocus Your Thoughts

By Jessica Van Roekel

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” -  Philippians 4:8

Have you ever walked into a room and felt you didn’t belong? I entered a meeting the other day, and I felt nobody wanted me there. Frowns and furrowed brows graced their faces. It spiraled me into a series of negative thoughts. I thought I wasn’t good enough, likable, or worthy of acknowledgment. I struggled to bring my attention to the purpose of the meeting because I felt rejected. Perceived rejection is assuming rejection before it has happened. I’m a genius at pre-rejecting myself on someone else’s behalf. I interpret the squint of the eyes as disapproval and the purse of the lips as annoyance toward me. I assume I’m already rejected to protect myself, but this behavior leads me into a cycle of being rejected and rejecting other people. I became aware of this tendency when the Lord revealed how the fear of rejection prevented me from walking in the ways he had for me.

God longs for us to grow in kindness and mercy. He wants us to know who we are in Christ, which is chosen, approved, desired, and discipled. Yet, when we get stuck in patterns of pre-rejection, we wrestle with these. We assume the worst about ourselves and others. Our focus drills inward until we see ourselves through a rejected lens. This rejected lens prevents us from seeing someone else’s struggles and worries. It interferes with compassion toward others. It takes us down a path of assumptions, leading to misunderstandings and broken relationships.

While many of us have external struggles with home, family, work, and finances, we also deal with internal battles. Our mind is one of the greatest places of battle, where external battles are won or lost. Pre-rejection steals our peace and promotes anxious thoughts, influencing our actions and attitudes. It’s amazing how I feed rejection when I assume I’ve been rejected. When I start from a place of assuming rejection, it impacts potential new relationships. If I’m closed off and self-protecting, it makes me seem cold and unfriendly. This is not who I am, but when I’m ruled by fear, it’s what I display. I’ve learned the secret to overcoming this tendency lies in my thoughts.

Romans 12:2 tells us to “be transformed by the renewal” of our minds, and pre-rejecting ourselves on behalf of someone else assumes the worst possible outcome. The Apostle Paul encouraged the Philippians to guard their hearts. Guarding our hearts promotes peace within ourselves and our relationships, but we must work at it. Our minds naturally run along negative tracks, but we can retrain our thoughts. Imagine what would happen if we concentrated on whatever is good, and when we walk into a room, we think about what is honorable. Rejecting yourself because you’re afraid someone might reject you doesn’t honor you or the other person.

One of the ways to overcome this tendency is to look for the good in others. I realized when I assume someone has rejected me, I’m projecting my fear of rejection onto them. They might be frowning in my direction, not because of me, but because of something in their life. Instead of responding with compassion and outward focus, we react with self-protection and self-focus. I still walk into meetings with the “Will they like me?” game playing in my head. But I’m learning to refocus my thoughts on myself and asking the Lord, “How can I show them you?” It starts in our minds and then translates into actions.

Let’s Pray:
Heavenly Father,
Thank you that you give us all the tools we need to live this life for you. Forgive us when we forget to use them and let our thoughts scatter to unhealthy and life-stealing pathways. We want to focus on you. You are honorable, lovely, true, commendable, just, and excellent, and when we think about you in these terms, you help us think about others in them too. Help us refocus our thoughts today. In Jesus’ name, Amen